Conventional land forces remain vital alongside UAVs, say Ukrainian officers

A Ukrainian soldier prepares a Shark reconnaissance UAV, in a photo on a 14 March 2026 Ukrainian MoD press release. (Ukrainian MoD)

Artillery, armour, and infantry remain essential alongside unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Ukrainian officers told the Apex Europe 2026 conference, held in London on 7–8 October.

Major Volodymyr “Colt”, head of civil-military cooperation at the 412th Nemesis Brigade, Unmanned Systems Forces, said that conventional systems still mattered, particularly in achieving effect at distance.

“We should look and think about using long-range artillery, missiles, rocket effectors and all types of long-range equipment,” he said. He warned that dependence on global navigation satellite systems, including the global positioning system, continued to undermine some weapons' effectiveness.“We've been saying this for around five years and we're still receiving some weapons that are very dependent on GPS and at the end we don't have results.”

Lieutenant Mykyta Puz, defence industry liaison officer for 1st Corps, Ukrainian National Guard, said “drones are just another factor”. He said artillery could offer shorter flight times than UAVs and greater explosive power and penetration for a given projectile size.

“No war can be won without having people on the ground,” Puz said. Infantry therefore still needed armoured vehicles to reach the front line and small arms to fight, he added.

Major Volodymyr said UAVs still depended on people for support. “Even if we have a super drone or robot we need people around it to charge the batteries, repair it, add weapons, bring it to the front line.”

Puz argued that human judgement and experience remained essential to battlefield decisions, despite rapid technological advances.

He warned that drone-only defences could leave launch sites vulnerable without infantry to hold ground.